Lighten Up

    Lent (which is Latin for "fortieth") is the Christian observance of the season from Ash Wednesday to Holy Thursday.  It is intended to prepare our hearts through prayer, repentance, sacrificial giving, and self-denial. As we enter the annual commemoration of  the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, we recall the profound events of the Passion of Christ on Good Friday, culminating with the most sacred event in history on the Sunday of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.


    God gave us His only son, and we..


    ...typically, Christians will "give up something" for Lent.  This can be anything from chocolate to overeating to smoking or drinking.  In the main, much like New Year's resolutions, these soon become little more than guilty memories, leaving little changed.  This Sunday, Pastor Franco led us in a more effective and meaningful direction in his sermon  Responding to God's Glory.  Much like in the blog entry Green Monkeys, Red Monkeys we are advised to not only repent of three sins for Lent, but also to replace them with God's powerful counterparts. This Lent we seek to make the sacrifice of obedience.  


    It is interesting that we concluded last week that to walk out what the Spirit is doing at Cornerstone, we needed to return to the three Eternal things; to faith, hope, and love.  If you listen to this week's sermon, that is the very destination He was leading us all along.

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Key Scriptures

• Isaiah 6:1-13 In the year of King Uzziah's death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. 2 Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings : with twohe covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called out to another and said, "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory." 4And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. 5 Then I said, "Woe is me, for I am ruined ! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips ; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts." 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. 7 He touched my mouth with it and said, "Behold, this has touched your lips  and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven." 8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" Then Isaid, "Here am I. Send me!" 9 He said, "Go, and tell this people : 'Keep on listening, but do not perceive ; Keep on looking, but do not understand.' 10 "Render the hearts of this people insensitive, Their ears dull, And their eyes dim, Otherwise they might see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, Understand with their hearts, And return and be healed." 11 Then I said, "Lord, how long ?" And He answered, "Until cities are devastated and without inhabitant, Houses are withoutpeople And the land is utterly desolate, 12 "The LORD has removed men far away, And the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. 13 "Yet there will be a tenth portion in it, And it will again be subject to burning, Like a terebinth or an oak Whose stump remains when it is felled. The holy seed is its stump.

• Romans 8:15  15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba ! Father !"

• Romans 8:28-31  28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. 29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the first born among many brethren ; 30 and these whom He predestined, He also called ; and these whom He called, He also justified ; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. 31 What then shall we say to these things ? If God is for us, who is against us?

• Romans 8:1-9  1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, 7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God ; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit,if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.

    So What?

     After seeing Isaiah's response to and transformation by the glory of God, we (the "Sow What?" group), could easily see that proximity to God makes lasting changes in perspective and personality.  We arrive despising ourselves and our sinful natures, and depart cleansed and ready for the first mission He'll entrust us with. We are ready to work for the Kingdom.


      We were called to relinquish fear, and exchange it for faith.  We find the scriptural basis for this in Heb 11, Rom 10:17, and Phil 4:11. 


    We were called to exchange complaining for hope, supported by Rom 8:28-31, Ps. 119, Ps. 36, Is 50:10, and James 4. 


    We we charged to abandon the lies of condemnation,   and walk in Love, prescribed by Rom 5:5, and Rom 8:1-9.


   B.L.U.F. - the keys to actually "Lightening Up" by discarding these habits of darkness and integrating these fruits of His love and Mercy:


1. Fear to Faith - Abandon ourselves to the spiritual disciplines that we learned this summer, to foster the experience of  His glory -- the intimacy with God -- that makes the Isaiah 6 transformation happen for us.


2. Complaining to Hope - stay in relationship with His plan for us via scripture, prayer, obedience, and worship. Express our authentic gratitude to God.


3. Condemnation to Love - by knowing it is not ours to judge, by recalling  where God found us, by remembering who we are in Christ (embracing the Gospel), and by praying in the Holy Spirit to spread His love abroad in our hearts.


4. When we become aware of the undertow of fear, complaining, and condemnation we have 3 courses of action:


     1 - Act against it; do the work to make things right by God's standards
     2 - Make it backfire; determine what the enemy least wants for us to do/think in the situation and do it in the power of the Holy Spirit.
     3. - Ask God for actionable guidance. 




><> db
     

The Road to War

    It is a strange thing to try to capture the move of the Holy Spirit in words.  Here at Cornerstone, His intention has loomed large and noticeable since June 19, 2011...

    ..throughout the summer of 2011, we were called to become people submitted to the spiritual disciplines.  In   short, to put Him first, and draw near to Him that he might draw near to us, consistently, that we might have an authentic humility, brokenness, and intimacy with Him...(see blog entries from June 19th through August 24th 2011)...

    ..thereafter - until this past weekend - we have been led to a year of learning to hear & obey His voice...

    In the old testament, it was the God-directed practice of the Hebrew men (during that transition known as the Exodus) to meet annually apart from the women and children in order to receive correction and guidance from God.  The Lord was to serve as their rear guard, watching over their families and easing their minds of concerns/burdens as the focused intently on the move and message of the Lord of the Universe. 

    ..this weekend, in a split operation between our Men's Advance- The Time is NOW (103 strong - awesome of itself in modern America), and the message delivered through Pastor Rowena to those in our "Rear Detachment" entitled Why I Love Jesus  , the Lord has begun to task organize us (put names to missions) for the plans He has for us corporately and individually.  Plainly put, God is on the move in all His aspects, and has provided the patient teaching we require to carry out His orders by His power.  From the training we've received since June, it doesn't look like we are going to be receiving a "pretty" mission.

    We are transitioning, ready or not. Keep your head and hands inside the will of God at all times, and enjoy the ride.

    Between operations in the military, we do several things.  First thing we do is submit a L.A.C.E. report, standing for Liquids (our water and fuel status), Ammunition, Casualties, and Equipment status (vehicles, weapons, etc.).  We let headquarters know what (and sometimes, whom) we need and we drive on.  As the OPTEMPO (operational intensity) allows, we train between engagements with the enemy.  We do this understanding that warfare itself is excellent training.  Right now, for instance, America's armed forces are extraordinarily sharp (and exhausted, paradoxically), and ready.  Warriors fight on as they are being trained, and often before the benefit from resupply from higher echelons.  So it will be for us.

    Standing at this threshold, the Holy Spirit has led us to meet separately in separate locations.  We at "Sow What?" this week labored to not only understand the bottom line for each group, but also what direction was needed for our church as a single, unified fighting unit in this ongoing battle for the Kingdom.    




B.L.U.F. - Men's Advance


1. Die to self and our own designs for our being and circumstances; walk by faith and by the Holy Spirit.  Talk is cheap; Grace is never cheap.


2. Commit, lead and follow as Holy Spirit directed, war (with our mighty spiritual, God-given weapons) & worship to win; NOW.


B.L.U.F. - Rear Detachment


1. LOVE: the Godly verb - not the human sentiment, must prevail if we are to have victory in this season


2. FAITHFULNESS, in our prayer life and our magnification of God is a requirement.  Spiritual and other support must be consistent and robust.  


3. HOPE, without being miracle-minded and expectant that God will be who He is, we will fail.  The minute we consider that something is impossible, we are no longer even talking about our Lord anymore, much less to Him. We fall out of connection with Him, and so from the Holy Spirit power we need to do all that we do.  


B.L.U.F. - Church at Cornerstone


1. Walk by the Spirit to preserve purity and power


2. Obedience born of LOVE (John 14:15-21)

3. Commit, lead and follow as Holy Spirit directed, war (with our mighty spiritual, God-given weapons) & worship to win; NOW.

       Blessed be the LORD, my rock, Who trains my                 hands for war, and my fingers for battle  

Psalms 144:1

 

><> Dan & Nancy

Counting Footprints

    If you've been a Christian for more than a few minutes, odds are you are familiar with the poem below:

FOOTPRINTS

One night a man had a dream. He dreamed 

he was walking along the beach with the LORD.

Across the sky flashed scenes from his life.

For each scene he noticed two sets of

footprints in the sand: one belonging

to him, and the other to the LORD.

When the last scene of his life flashed before him,

he looked back at the footprints in the sand.

He noticed that many times along the path of

his life there was only one set of footprints.

He also noticed that it happened at the very

lowest and saddest times in his life.

This really bothered him and he

questioned the LORD about it:

"LORD, you said that once I decided to follow

you, you'd walk with me all the way.

But I have noticed that during the most

troublesome times in my life,

there is only one set of footprints.

I don't understand why when

I needed you most you would leave me."

The LORD replied:

"My son, my precious child,

I love you and I would never leave you.

During your times of trial and suffering,

when you see only one set of footprints,

it was then that I carried you."

by Carolyn Joyce Carty

     It's a beautiful poem.  Problem is, it's misleading.  

    Truth is, there are almost never two sets of footprints after Jesus saves us.  He shoulders very nearly all of the weight on this journey.  

    Further, when there are actually two sets of footprints, one will often, sadly, be seen leaving Christ's side to head off and blaze their own trail. Or is that on a trail to blazes?


    This week's sermon - The Blessings of His Burden - seeks to set us straight about who carries what as we journey together by the water's edge.  And, sometimes, when we tread the waves themselves.

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     The Bereans of "Sow What?" spent Wednesday night scrutinizing the sermon; the key verses are linked to here:


Principles:
Mt 11:25-30


Ps 68:19


2 Cor 5:4


Burdens God Takes:
 What he has decreed, and What we give Him. God meets us in humility and meekness, handling our burdens tirelessly and in constancy.


Ps 38:4


Luke 11:46


Mt 6:31-34


Ps 81:5-6


Burdens God Gives:
We are not to accept the comfort of the enemy, instead carrying the burdens of God's heart for the world and for one another.


2 Cor 5:4 (yes, again)


Gal 6:2


Hab 1:1-3


Luke 19:41-44

Bottom Line Up Front

Why, exactly,  are His burdens a blessing?

* Leads to Joy 

* Leads to Peace

* Leads to Power and Authority

     We were able to confirm these truths via Ps 37:4 , Is 55: 11, and Am 3:7

How, exactly, are we to carry them?

* Stop Carrying God's Burdens to free your hands for yours

* Galations 6:2!

* Vigilance of your heart; know the Word, know it's Author, stay near to Him via the spiritual disciplines

     As time allows, next week we will discuss what this might look like in our homes, and when we venture out into the world.  

    Lord, help us all, and keep us.

><> Dan & Nancy

Brothers in Arms

    This week's message, Come Together,  is a 'members only' kind of sermon.  Just like Christianity itself, it is larger on the inside than could ever be understood from the outside looking in.  It is classified FKUO -- For Kingdom Use Only

    It is rare that posting to this blog is so far beyond me.  I have been unable to get it done to my satisfaction, and decided at last to go ahead and share instead why  it has been so tough to do.  This week, so much of what we discussed in class seemed more based on our connection in the Holy Spirit than in anything we said aloud.  Capturing the unity we have in Jesus Christ in a few typed lines feels like trying to preserve a kiss;  a little foolish to even attempt.

    As a Church (capital "C" intentional) I think we all know there are rough times ahead; the flames are already warming our feet.  However, like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego,  we also know we are not alone as we enter the fire.  We have God, and we also have each other.

    So what?

    Well, that kind of unity, the bond that enabled the persecuted early Church to conquer the known world, doesn't just happen.  As things heat up, we would do well to understand what they understood about being brothers (and sisters) in arms.  We need to Get it, together , if we intend to see this thing through.

    Sow what?

    The early church left footprints when they walked this out; those tracks are our B.L.U.F. for this week.


    * Pray in the Holy Spirit, to shed the love of God abroad in our hearts (Jude 1:20 , Rom 5:5)

    *  Embrace the spiritual disciplines

    * Avail ourselves of the unfailing guidance of the Holy Spirit

    * Interdependence is commanded; we are to bear one another's burdens (Gal 6:2)

    * Embracing the gospel as individuals is critical to togetherness; our greatest common ground is the Mercy & Grace of  God. They were "in one accord" each time in the book of Acts right before the power of God fell upon them (Acts 1:14, 2:1, 2:46, 4:24, 5;12, 15:25).

    Next week, we study what it looks like when we all get out of the boat, and walk on water together.

Blessings,

><> db

Getting our Sea Legs

The Clock and the Compass

        The Bullet Train:   
    The very soul of the modern journey.  Serious travel, serious results, as rapidly and economically as possible.  The Bullet Train gets it done. The network, consisting of 1,483.6 miles of track, presently links most major cities on the islands of Honshu and Kyushu, with construction of a link to the northern island of Hokkaido underway and plans to increase speeds up to 199 mph.  


      The Bullet Train, like the frenetic humanity it serves, is all about watching the clock and the bottom line.


     This week, in the sermon The Journey We Are On, we learn that today more than ever, we need the Compass more than we will ever need the Clock.   Our conclusions, from pouring over the key verses of this message, point to a plan that takes us far from the map and modes of the masses (say that three times fast), and uses faith in God and His Word as the bottom line.  The mission is, frankly, more than a little daunting.  Like combat, it nearly always seems foolhardy in the natural, and yet in truth is needfull and quickening.  The journey in Christ is the only one worthwhile. 

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Key Scriptures:


a) Jeremiah 29:11 / Romans 8:28-31


b) Deuteronomy 4:1-2


c) Deuteronomy 30:11-16  




                               ______________________________________________




  For our new Bereans: 


  So What (= truths)? & Sow What (= application)? Our B.L.U.F. - the walk-away truths that we apply to our lives from this message


Bottom Line Up Front: 


1) Nothing more; nothing less.  Only God has the perfect plan and path for our lives.


2) John 14:15 - 21 : Love-based obedience to God works.  It's not about what we can do, it's about who we become.


3) We must walk in His way; if not us, then who?


4) We must be those who believe His Word more than our circumstances and senses. Isaiah 30:21


5) We must understand and practice that our Heavenly Father honors Worship that is in Spirit (the Holy Spirit) and in Truth (Jesus Christ).  That is to say, practically, 100% committed to the whole of who God is.


 Note for our new folks:
  
* the site looks differently each week, so don't be surprised by changes in its appearance  


* the post above contains several links, that may be clicked on to listen to the sermon, read the referenced scriptures, and so forth.


   Have a victorious week! 


   ><> Dan & Nancy

F.A.I.T.H.

    When you first begin, desperate and in earnest, to cross the desert of Holiness, there are a number of surprises in store.

    The first thing you might notice is how absolutely barren the place is.  I mean, if the Christian media are to be believed, you would expect to find caravans of folks just like you to travel with, and well-worn paths to follow. In practice, fellow travelers are rare, milestones few, and the withering heat incessant. The gritty wind and the sand it blows about are your constant companions.  Staying the course needs faith, and understanding of what faith looks like in practice.

    Sundays message, Mind Prepared in Faith , delivers on preparing yourself for that trek.

    So What?/ Sow What?

    You'll recall that F.A.I.T.H. was  made into the following acronym...our B.L.U.F. for each falls immediately beneath each one.

    F - focus on the Word (Jesus Christ & Scripture)
         B.L.U.F. - we need to be zealous, venerating Christ and Scripture 


    A - arrows are still coming
         B.L.U.F. - Never lower the shield of faith


    I - immediate resolution is not the norm
        B.L.U.F. - Focus on His face & His heart, not on His benefits


   T - total surrender is needed
        B.L.U.F. - spiritual disciplines are what it takes; SPS (Spiritual Positioning System), not GPS (Global <worldly> Positioning System).


   H - Holiness is the goal
          B.L.U.F. -  A.B.S., Always Be Sowing  


    In the final analysis, the desert of holiness is as it should be.  The wind is the Holy Spirit, guiding us gently or forcefully as He sees best.  The desert itself consists of the dust from which we are made, a donation from the flesh shed by those making the journey, joyfully, before you.  The searing heat, that refining fire, will not stop until you are in the likeness of Christ ( Philippians 1:6 ).  However long, lonely, or arduous the trip, I pray we all elect to take it.

<>< db

Quick Administrative Note

           This past Wednesday was officially the end of the Fall Term for Cornerstone Small Groups, with the first meeting of the Winter Term on January 4th, 2012.  Officially..



             ...but Sow What is a little different, being sermon-driven.    It is in our hearts, if you good folks would like to continue meeting, to work something out (either in Church or elsewhere) in the same time slot.  You just have to let us know.  Thanks.

P.S. - From 03 - 23 December 2011 Dan will be in Tampa in an inpatient chronic pain program; we covet your prayers.  This will not hinder Sow What? from meeting.

Blessings,

><> Nancy & Dan

With Whose Passion?

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.    John 3:16

God doesn't miss a note in orchestrating His universe, does He?

    I wondered how it might work out this past Sunday.  I mean, with a guest speaker from the Church in another nation, I sort of wondered if the lessons would continue apace with what the Holy Spirit has been teaching us for the past 16 weeks:

   What we got was Dr. Melese Wogu of Ethiopia, speaking on Biblical Compassion; the perfect message for a church being incrementally called to abandoned service in the Kingdom.  It is what's next for us.  Please click the link, and make a study of this message if you couldn't attend on Sunday.

    Compassion?


    So What? 


    The key scriptures, most revolving about the demonstrated compassion of Christ, are as follows:


Matt 9:35-38


Matt 18:21-35


Mark 1:40-42


Luke 10:25-37 

    The essence of what the our class realized from studying these passages is that Godly Compassion has little in common with the found-less pity of the human heart.  Trying to capture every awesome thing God revealed through His word and His people last week is like trying to preserve a kiss.  You had to be there to understand the depth of this study.

    Sow What?

    Our walk-away value from this sermon is found below in our weekly B.L.U.F. - Bottom Line Up Front

    1) Compassion is "action" with God's passion; not pity

    2) That "action" must be right action; your assignment within God's plan

    3)  To walk out your assignment within God's plan requires mortifying your objections - a crisis of faith

    4) The best things in life are always preceded by this kind of anxiety; so it is with the life of faith

    5)  Abandon your comfort zone, and never return to it


     Make no mistake; this is the kind of pursuit that finds its object.  Dr. Wogu's challenge finds us on the threshold of an apostolic calling.  Will Cornerstone be a church that answers that call? Talk is cheap.


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Men of Iron

   The Overt Message: True Righteousness, True Healing.

   The Covert Message: I Dare You to be a Kingdom Christian.


    St. Jerome said "the earliest members of the Christian Church lived in the way  in which monks of today try earnestly to live."  Though that may be overstating the case, the early Church was nothing if not puritan.  Its moral standards were lofty, its disciplines rigorous, and its demands total.  God preserved, and continues to preserve,a remnant of those who follow the spiritual disciplines we studied this past summer.  Those who have smuggled themselves off into monasteries and cloisters, I'll submit, are not adhering to our common charge to be in the world but not of the world.   There were some exceptions to this; mendicant (means poor on purpose) friars who lived the practices that led to intimacy with God amidst the mess that was the Middle Ages.

    One leader of these abandoned men was named Columbanus.  Living in Ireland, and so separated from some of the chaos of the Dark Ages, these men pursued God in a manner not paralleled outside of scripture.  Above all they refused to accept counterfeits for the Truth.  They would meditate and pray, give all to Kingdom service, and adhere to a stern standard of physical mortification.  When Columbanus and his fold first landed in France, they were dubbed "Men of Iron" by the followers of Franciscan monasticism.

    They were, simply, impeccable followers of Jesus Christ.  Like the Apostles, they chose to stand and deliver.

    So What?


    So when we are being called to lead similar lives (as the  past 16 sermons have unmistakably done) in a similarly dark age, we could do worse than to look to the Word of God and those who have successfully lived that committed life.


    Key  Questions & Scriptures:


   1. Do you want to have True Peace, or do you want to be comfortable?


       John 14:27, John 16:33, Isaiah 28:12




   2. Do you want True Healing, or just to be numb? 


       Isaiah 58:8, Malachi 4:2, 1 Peter 2:24




   3. Do you growth that leads to reconciliation, or do you want to get your way and stay as you are?


       Luke 9:23, Matthew 5:20-48


   4.  Do we want to be filled, or just a comfortable compromise?

   
    No one can get strong in Christ for you; we have individual responsibility before God.  You and I must decide the answers above for ourselves, and let our lives be our testimony.  Success in the Lord requires no explanations; failure permits no alibis.

   Our study bore the following fruit.

   B.L.U.F. - 


1. Holding True Peace requires remaining in Christ, and obediently responding to the conviction of the Holy Spirit when we stray.


2. Fasting from our agendas to live God's yields True Healing; FEAR GOD


3. True surrender begins in crucifixion, and is maintained in spiritual  disciplines born of love for God 


4. We have one choice; His righteousness or our own.


  


    We are actually being called to this level of commitment.  Lord, help our unbelief.




><> db

Going Light on the Salt

    Nearly every traditionally savory food, from soup to salsa, has a "low sodium" label these days.  "Low Salt" has become something desirable - useful in preventing hypertension -  which can lead to a "heart attack", ironically enough. Spiritually, things are not much different in Christendom. We minister to the thirsty with the water of the Word, just a salt-free/low-salt version.  Also in common, we are more vulnerable to having "heart failure" from the addition of salt to our diet, be it physical or spiritual, because we simply don't exercise consistently ( Hebrews 5:14 ). We are a long way from the days of taking salt pills during hard labor in hot weather.

   I remember landing in Paleroma Airbase in Honduras in '87, the bay door to the C-130 opening, and the 126 degree heat pouring over us, hitting us like a  physical force.  We were each issued not only an extra two-quart canteen, but salt pills as well.  Plain water wasn't enough to keep us on our feet in that climate, with electrolytes fleeing our pores in steady streams of sweat.  Combat Operations in Hot Climates requires water and SALT. I submit that spiritually speaking, it is sweltering in America, and the church here is overwhelmed and fainting.

    Like the background to this page, I will try to combine salt and light with the water of the Word to portray a beautiful vision only God could provide.  To much light? You'll have  an obnoxious blinding glare.  To much salt? A desiccated Dead Sea.  In balance with the water of the Word of Truth? A beautiful relationship teeming with life...

    The sermon, Right Relationships: Listening To Jesus Tell Us What Righteousness Does, based on Matt 5:1-25, is straight forward.  The key points and scriptures, below,  flow simply and powerfully.  The tough part is walking in the constancy it describes - the constancy of the believer who's relationship with Christ is undeniably the preeminent feature of their existence.  The "How To" of this sermon is what we at Sow What?  went after this week.

Key Points/Scriptures:

1.  Righteousness noticeably lives in mercy, purity, and peacemaking. (Matt 5: 7-9)

2. Righteousness loves people enough to share the truth. (Matt 5:13-16)

Living the righteousness of God means we will have both a negative (salt) and a positive (light) effect/affect on every relationship we have

Salt - rejecting lies and corruption; preservative of truth; condemning sin and not people

Light - edifying and nurturing in the Truth

Read - Romans 8:3-4, Luke 3:13, Acts 3:19, John 8:10-11

Key meaning - Biblical love protects and creates eternal life in people through righteous serving.

Read - 1 John 4:8-9, John 3:16-17, Mark 10:45

3. Righteousness Shares Grace and Truth (Psalms 34:18, John 1:17, Matt 5: 17-18)

Key meaning: Grace is what God GIVES you to live in His truth and be blessed.

 Christ is our righteousness - Romans 3:21-24, 2 Cor 5:17-21

4. Righteousness Urgently seeks reconciliation when anger violates righteousness. (Matt 5: 21-26)

***************************************

B.L.U.F.
Bottom Line Up Front


1. Conviction comes from God; not of us but through us


2. Repentance/Forgiveness is the only sin-stopper


3. It can never be God's Agenda "plus" or "minus" anything. His ways and wisdom are all there are; all that is righteous is of Him.


4. We should not dilute God's love with false mercy - that is the comfort of the enemy.


5. We need to obtain/maintain the brokenness/humility that comes from proximity to Jesus Christ


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Giving Up

Welcome.

Despite a very fruitful night examining Sunday’s message What Do I Need Most From God Today?  There is a check in my spirit as I type this.  I would ask you to walk along for a bit, and bear with me. 

Sometimes there is just no hope for the eyes.  We trek through a dark, desolate landscape, and spend our time in a futile sort of mental fencing.  We stab at our woes with visions of increased wealth, health, inner peace, knowledge, skill, or self-discipline.  At best we gather ourselves, and maybe even arrive at some considerable milestone, only to again run afoul of our own fallen natures.  And so it goes. 

The heart of the problem, our shared tragic flaw, is insoluble.  For anyone reading who has genuinely and permanently solved life, I submit that this blog post is not for you.  I would very much enjoy coffee and conversation with you sometime.  For the rest of us, the promises found in this sermon amount to a Life-hack.  It contains the answers to all questions and the key to each and every situation in the game of life. 

Understand and apply the Christ-spoken, red-letter guidance found between Matt 5:1 – 6:33, and you will not only beat the game, you will dominate it.  The hack, however, is the most counter-intuitive, courageous, and difficult course of action imaginable.  Even a quick read of The Beatitudes will leave you dubious about following its wisdom.  The overview goes something like:

     1.    Give Up

Ask Jesus to save you from your sin and from yourself <John 3:16-18>.  Understand that anything you say, think, or do that doesn’t begin, remain, and end in the heart and mind of God will be (must be) utterly destroyed. <Hebrews 12:26-28>

B.L.U.F. – God’s people NEED God’s power to do God’s work.

  

     2.  Lose your life.

When His will is your heart’s desire, at every turn, whatever flinching your soul and body does, you are on the path.  Sufficient hunger and thirst for Him draws you further up and further in, clearing all obstacles en route.  <John 12:25>

B.L.U.F. – I must become less, He must become more. <John 3:30>

     3.  Give, Up

     

      Cheerfully give all you are for the Kingdom, up to your Father, pouring out all within you.  Turn to more important matters than transporting gold to your grave. Bravely face each moment as if it were your first, yet treat every life you touch as if it will end at midnight.  Be unafraid; nothing here can harm you except yourself. 

B.L.U.F. – we MUST be salt and light throughout the journey; walk (as a church & an individual) in mercy, purity, and peace.

4.  Don’t Mess with Your Mission

 God’s will for your life only comes in two flavors: His perfect will and His circumstantial will.  That is, His original, pristine mission for you before you ever once went off course and His will for you from where you are today.  They are lived in precisely the same way; with purity and abandon.  We don’t try to create our own solutions <Isaiah 50:10-11>, nor do we accept the comfort of the enemy <1 Cor 5:6>, or take the counsel of our fears <2 Timothy 1:7>.

B.L.U.F. – Work the promises and the promises will work for you

The Life-hack, straight from the mouth of Jesus Christ himself.  It’s that simple and that difficult.

Our Hope is so great.

><> d & n

Seasonal Savvy

     Some sermons take a good 15 minute word and cram it into 45 minutes (ahem).  Still others take a tremendous 3- hour Bible study and deliver it within the confines of a single Sunday service.  Conversely, this Sunday's message, from Pastor Jones, is reminiscent of the cry of John the Baptist to "Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand!"  The message "repent" is straightforward, but plumbs the depths of who we are.  It takes patience to deliver such a potent message in the detail it requires. John the Baptist spent his entire life delivering it.

    This one of those sermons.  It has taken us as a Church body 5 months of spiritual preparation just to be ready to hear this message.  We would do well to really get this one, in the season we were given it.


><> db

_______________________________________

Key Scriptures:     


1 Chronicles 12:32 -    of the sons of Issachar who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, their chiefs were two hundred; and all their brethren were at their command;


Daniel 2:19-23 -  9 Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. So Daniel blessed the God of heaven.20 Daniel answered and said: "Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, For wisdom and might are His. 21 And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise And knowledge to those who have understanding. 22 He reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, And light dwells with Him. 23 "I thank You and praise You, O God of my fathers; You have given me wisdom and might, And have now made known to me what we asked of You, For You have made known to us the king's demand."


John 5:30 -  I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.

    Each of us is impacted by our seasonal awareness, and our ability/discipline to act upon that knowledge.  For example, whereas the background on this page may or may not remind you that Fall is nearly upon us, you may not have the time, resources, or discipline to begin preparing for it's arrival.  Does everyone have an adequate wardrobe to meet this colder season?  Has the lawn been aerated, the gutters cleaned, vehicles prepared (tires, oil changed?), and have we begun to prepare ourselves financially for the 1-2-3 punch of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years?


   So What?
  The point:  We learned first to walk with Him, and then to authentically hear, listen, and obey His voice.  Last week we heard that to become the individual or church He calls us to be, we have to be absolutely broken, in loving obedience and submissive relationship (John 14:21) to Christ.  This week, we are being told, in essence, how absolutely essential it is that we listen up, right now, because He is ready to share His plan for this Church.  Being ready is the point, purpose, and plain old "how to" of the scriptures utilized by the Holy Spirit this week.  We are being told we will need to be Seasonally Savvy  if we are going to know both what to expect and what to do.


   Sow What?
    The way we walk this out, our degree of abandon to His Will in this season, is going to be telling.  The "Sow What?"  crew wrestled with these scriptures, and with what applying them would look like in our lives.  The responses were those of a group ready to lovingly and sacrificially follow Him anywhere.

     Our  discussion/exploration led to the following B.L.U.F. statements:

1. We are not to be ignorant of the world and enemy activities; we are to live in perspective of how impotent they are against God and His truth.
 
2. We must seek to be invested and 'on mission' at all times; working whether well or wounded, our comfort zones a distant memory.

3. Walk out His missions, not our gifting.


4.  Unless our agenda is gone, and we are broken and listening - WE DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO.


5.  We need to daily answer for ourselves, our families, and our Church the question: "What on earth are we doing, for Heaven's sake?"


6.  Only God knows what we need to know. We need to remain submitted always; all hours, all matters, all decisions.  Starts to look suspiciously like praying without ceasing and daily time in God's Word.

7.  It is more important to have a compass than a clock.  Nothing is properly called progress that does not serve God's Will, no matter how outwardly fruitful or productive.

   
    During class a "Sow What?" member confessed that she needs to really go back and place first person pronouns in every B.L.U.F. statement - to apply these truths with a "Me", "my", or an"I".  Getting to be a City on a Hill means we all need to labor under that self-same conviction.  Lord, help us.


><> D & N 

Cornerstone: Called to Climb

   Greetings everybody.  We pray this post finds you blessed.  While seeking to saturate our minds with Sunday's message, The Beatitudes , we took some time to reflect upon our journey as a church-family.

   If we take a step back, it's easy to see a definite leading of the Holy Spirit here at Cornerstone.

1^st – we spent the summer learning to walk with Jesus, becoming familiar with His presence and increasingly committing to a spiritual place & spiritual disciplines that require both faith and trust (trust = faith with wheels)

2^nd – we are becoming familiar with harkening to His voice; hearing and obeying as a ballistic, single-step response to hearing His familiar voice.  Obedience, trained by the spiritual disciplines, can become like reading the words on a page.  Can you look at the words on this page without reading them?  Not very easily.  Disobedience to God can become just as difficult through ascetic practice rooted in love of our Lord.

3^rd – now that we are walking with Him, and harkening to Him, comes the hardest milestone since we started this trek; particularly hard to get as a Church body.  Living in constancy from the brokenness that results from Embracing the Gospel – from embracing the Cross and never letting go. 


Sow What?

  Next we explored the key scriptures from The Beatitudes , seeing for ourselves (Acts 17:11) what it is to be authentically broken, and  to fully Embrace the Gospel.

   Embracing the gospel means that we get it and we live it.  We are new creations in Christ ( 2 Cor 5:17 ), and the Bible is the instruction and troubleshooting guide for this new being we've become.  You don't see Mr. Cat come home to Mrs. Cat at the end of a long day and say "Honey, I just don't think I'm cut out for this mouse chasing stuff."  We don't see him a few months later trying to hunt Impala on the plains of the Serengeti like his Lion bretheren.  Mr. Cat, enviably, knows his true nature and embraces it.  Christian lives don't merely go poorly apart from embracing the Bible, the Gospel, and the (painful but necessary) work of the Cross; they won't work at all.  Once redeemed, we are easily as different from our former selves as our former selves were from earthworms. New principles -- Kingdom Principles -- now exclusively apply.

   Anyone who has been a believer for a while will have seen a list like the one found here.  I will submit to you that truly submitting to and embracing the gospel, and understanding deeply who we are in Christ (that radically new and different being), is the Rx for 99% of what ails you, be it spiritual, mental, physical, relational, or circumstantial.  In a previous blog, Red Monkeys, Green Monkeys , we discuss replacing our thoughts and the programming of man with the Truth.  Following the instructions on the page I've linked to above are a valid means of doing that.

Key Scriptures from the Sermon

Matthew 5:1-10

Matthew 5:14

Matthew 4:23

Matthew 9:35

Ps. 37

1 Peter 4:10

Matthew 6:8

  Authentic following of Christ: is first in relationship, then in truth (harkening), then in experience – come what may!

   These scriptures and the sermon teach the Workings of the Broken Church - -

Towards God:

Adore Him in Worship 

Abandon myself to His Word

Glorify God in everything I do

Towards Man:

Rescue the lost 

Purity/Pure heart towards all/redeeming the saved 

Resend the Disciples 


... it is at once that simple and that difficult to answer the call to be a City on a Hill.


Our B.L.U.F. (Bottom Line Up Front):

(1) We need God.  No, I mean we really NEED God to become that City on a Hill

(2) Reach and remain at that utterly uncomfortable, utmost end of ourselves...so that...

(3) ..there is room enough on the throne of our hearts for God alone.

(4) If we don't teach, preach, and heal (by His power), nothing, tragically, happens.

(5) Love 'em all, sharing the Grace and Love of God, come what may.


><> D&N